Times' all-Suncoast football team

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In a season bordering on the unprecedented, we opted for the same landscape-altering approach to our all-Suncoast football team. For what we believe is the first time in our history, three individuals — Jefferson’s Quentin Williams, Armwood’s Josh Grady and Plant’s James Wilder Jr. — share our player of the year honors. Why? All were the clear catalysts in their respective team’s drive to a state final berth. Three state finalists, three honorees. See the symmetry? ¶ Granted, Williams, who won the state’s Mr. Football Award with jaw-dropping numbers, was the only one of the trio to lead his team to a title. But we couldn’t in good conscience deny Wilder, who may have meant more to his team than any other player on any team in the state; or Grady, who carried Armwood’s offense for much of the postseason.

Players of the Year

Quentin Williams
Sr., QB, Jefferson

In his spare time, Williams likes to play EA Sports NCAA Football on XBox. “I like to take one of those little-known teams and win a championship with them,” he says.

It’s fitting, because on the field Williams put up video-game passing stats in leading a record-setting offense to the Class 3A state title — no B button needed.

In becoming just the third Hillsborough County player to win the Florida Mr. Football Award, he set Florida high school records for single-season passing touchdowns (56), single-season passing yardage (4,451), career touchdown passes (109) and career passing yardage (10,384).

In the Dragons’ championship game win over Miami Norland, he threw for three scores and ran for two as Jefferson ran out to a 30-point second-quarter lead that had the Vikings searching for the reset button in an eventual 44-34 Dragons win. Unlike his XBox accomplishments, Williams, a Bethune-Cookman commit, has a gold medal to show for it, one he has rarely taken off.

James Wilder Jr.
Sr., RB/DE, Plant

Where do we start with J-Dub? The biceps? His powerful strides? His speed off the edge? How he drags tacklers? The stiff arm?
So many things stand out about Wilder’s game, which explains why MaxPreps made him its No. 1 recruit in the nation. From the first game of the season, the 6-foot-3, 230-pounder battled bumps and bruises. But make no mistake, he did most of the punishing, rushing for 1,597 yards and 22 touchdowns on offense and 75 tackles and eight sacks on defense.

In the playoffs, Wilder averaged 143 yards and had nine touchdowns, including a 235-yard, five-touchdown effort in a 48-6 trouncing of Lakeland in the state semifinals that immediately became the stuff of legend. As a sophomore at Chamberlain Wilder had just one carry at running back, but will leave for Florida State as the area’s most powerful runner in years, and arguably the best player Tampa Bay has ever seen. While most colleges saw his future more promising on defense, he’s going to Tallahassee to do big things at running back.

Josh Grady
Sr., QB, Armwood

The defining moment of Grady’s career may have arrived after the most deflating one.

With 19.6 seconds to play in the Class 4A semifinals at Armwood’s Lyle Flagg Field, Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer’s Jacoby Brissett had just eluded an intense Hawks pass rush to find Tommylee Lewis in a corner of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown on third and 10, giving the guests a 20-19 lead.

As Grady, who already had thrown for three TDs, fastened his chin strap to try to salvage a miracle, Armwood defensive coordinator Matt Thompson turned his way and said, “This is what legends are made of.”

“That’s pretty much the last thing I heard from any coach before I went out onto the field,” recalled Grady, a 6-foot-1 senior who totaled 3,061 yards and 26 TDs.

After a penalty provided Armwood some generous field position, Grady hit 210-pound tailback Matt Jones in space for a 28-yard gain. He then found sophomore Alvin Bailey on a button-hook pattern for 12 more yards. Five ticks remained on the clock.

Grady had left enough time for Ash Dudney to boot a winning 44-yard field goal. The senior captain, summoned to carry the injury-plagued Hawks offense most of the playoffs, had handled the season’s most critical juncture with presence, poise and precision.